A blog concerning fashion, travel, and the pursuit of some lofty dreams.

Even for those who have something against the desert landscape and find it “barren” or “boring” ( I’ve heard of these people and we will address this issue at a later date), there is some serious variety in this lovely state.

Now that school is out, my travel game is on. First trip? A journey to Cece’s hometown; Lakeside Arizona. Holy gorgeous check it out:

If you’ve never heard of the place (highly likely) it’s a lovely little gem of a town by Showlow. It is jam packed with lakes and mountains and trees and Cece’s big tight-knit family. She was bred and born and raised right in Lakeside, here’s a picture of her in her natural habitat

My favorite thing to do while exploring is to sit and to think. The fresh mountain air can do wonders for a foggy head. Beautiful places make me feel so close to myself and to God, my best meditations happen in nature. When I came back from thinking, Cece had made me a gorgeous flower crown!

Dear Earth, thanks for the adventure. Keep me in mind this summer, I’ll be around.

I think this picture of my sister in a fountain accurately portrays my disposition these past few weeks. I haven’t been blogging and I probably won’t be until my summer officially begins. So I am just checking in and inviting you to stayed tuned because this summer will be filled with excellent adventures, international travel, fabulous clothing, and all kinds of new experiences.

You’ve heard of “Throwback Thursday” and “Flashback Friday”, but ain’t seen nothing yet. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with utmost pride and deepest pleasure (name that movie!), that I introduce to you,

FLASH FORWARD FRIDAY

It’s a really cool thing I invented out of sheer frustration with school and an extreme case of the it’s-almost-summer blues. It’s pretty simple too. Here is a step-by-step instructional on creating your own flash forward Friday.

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…so why did I change the name of the blog?

When I began writing, all I wanted to write about my intense, lifelong love affair with vintage clothing, so Vintage Victori was a perfectly appropriate title. But the more I write, the more I want to write. Sometimes I feel weird posting about my travels or other things that are not clothing related, simply because it didn’t fit the content I was advertising with the title and URL I chose.

After much deliberation I landed upon Victori Speech for a couple reasons

1. I am a narcissist so it had to still contain my name. Check.

2. This is my blog, (mostly) my photography, my view on the world, this is my speech.

3. A Victory Speech is what you deliver after you accomplish something great, and that is what I am here to do.

To my vintage fanatics: don’t freak. I am not in any way cutting back on my vintage fashion posts. However, I will be more inclined to include personal adventures, general musings, and maybe some pictures of my lunch.

A trip into the city is just what the doctor ordered this week! After a short ride on the light rail into Phoenix I met up with my darling uptown girl, Sydney. Isn’t she just a doll?

We get along quite well because of a shared obsession for dressing up and enjoying the rich cultural experiences this gorgeous state has to offer. If you haven’t been to the Phoenix Art Museum recently (or ever) we cannot recommend it enough! Particularly the Andy Warhol exhibit, which is Sydney’s favorite due to a lifelong interest in Marilyn Monroe and 1950’s pop culture.

Oh and edible art? A+

We popped on over to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dangerous amounts of pasta and cotton candy lime-aid(!) And finished off the night at the Herberger for Arizona Theater Company’s unique staging of Romeo and Juliet.

I just felt so posh! Big city, pretty dresses, wonderful art, and a delightful production. Phoenix may be seeing my face around more often.

When I began writing this blog back in December, I had a sort of vague longing to eventually turn it into an online store after some time. That distant dream has quickly become a much more developed plan that I intend to set in motion within the year. I believe that how we dress ourselves is a way of expressing ourselves, the most widespread art form and I want to support this self expression by opening up a vintage and handmade clothing store. Once the store is up, it will be accessible online, but as it grows I will be selling at flea markets and stores all around the USA and perhaps Europe as well.

Additionally, for every item purchased from my store, I will be sending a lovely handmade dress to young girls in need of clothing, as a way of giving back and expressing gratitude for all that I have been blessed with. Many of the girls I will be sending clothing to have never had their own dress. While I am aware that this cause may not be ground shaking or world changing, when I think of a sweet little child receiving a brand new outfit that is all her own and what that might feel like to her, I know it will make a difference to that one girl, and that is plenty for me.

Here’s the catch: I’m broke. I work in food service and make about enough every month for rent and groceries, its the college life, what can you do? I’ve been saving a bit to get this dream of mine on the road, but at the rate I am going, it could be a couple of years.So I launched a Go Fund Me Campaign last night. A couple generous souls have already donated! If you could spare a couple of dollars for my cause I would be over the moon. If not, I would be thrilled if you could even share it around. Reblog, share the link of facebook, twitter, instagram, whatever your choice platform is. It would mean everything to me if I could raise the means to pursue this dream. Thank you 🙂

On our fantastic journey to San Diego we visited a couple sensational thrift stores and I cannot wait to share! Lead by the lovely Kiera (who knew little cousins have know all the best thrifting knowledge?), all of the highlights were in a walkable distance along Garnet Avenue in downtown San Diego. Here’s my top 3:

3. Goodwill 1430 Garnet Avenue, San Diego, CA

I know what you’re thinking! You’ve been to Goodwill, it’s nice but it’s not anything to scream about. Well get screaming. This was the fanciest, friendliest, most charming Goodwill I have ever had the pleasure to visit. They had an excellent selection of sun dresses and great quality stuff! I picked up a pair of sandals that look brand new and sick-nasty tie from their beautiful tie collection there. Who knew?

This store was just a gem! NOTE*** Requires some digging, if that ain’t your strong suit, this may not be your store. However they do have some really killer stuff including some clearly marked genuine vintage clothing worth much more than they are selling for. They also have this sweet board that lays out what is on sale for what discount every day (see photo above) and offer a student and military discount on top of it all. I walked out with a brand new Loft dress, a head scarf, and a couple tops for under $15 dollars. Most of it I didn’t even know was discounted!

1. THRiFT Trader 1460 Garnet Avenue, San Diego, CA

Okay. This place is the bees flippin knees. The exterior and interior were equally awesome and had the most adorable dressing rooms. But while ambiance was a huge selling point, it was not what put THRiFT Trader at the number one spot. They featured a great selection of clothing at a really great price.. that is any item (unless otherwise marked) or 5.99 or 4 for $20. I picked up my absolute favorite finds from the trip at this place and at one point had Cece climbing to the ceiling of the store to remove a shirt from a mannequin for me. It was really cute. 10/10 would recommend.

Needless to say I had quite the hay day. And now you are well equipped to have one yourself (thanks Kiera). Pictures of the cutest pieces will be popping up on the blog in the future, so stay tuned folks